Whatever side of the political fence they are on, few would argue that a tipping point for concern about climate
change has now been reached and passed. At this time, it is particularly tempting for OD practitioners to push their
clients toward desperately needed action to avert even worse results than have already been set in motion.

As a citizen, I have been passionately committed to driving a broad range of sustainability issues since the 70's,
attempting to get them onto my clients' radar whenever possible. In the mid-90's, I chose to focus much of my
consulting with architecture, engineering, and environmental science firms for two reasons. First, I perceived these
professional service firms to be on average more values-based than corporations. Second, I perceived them to be a
huge leverage point for reducing the footprint of human society. Even in this sector, however, for many, many years it
simply was not possible to bring sustainability into focus as a primary strategic concern. The last five years have been
a different story, but not as different as I would like.

This is the first in a series of articles focused on applied innovation methods. The topic of this article is a foundational framework I use to answer the question, "How to achieve individual, group and organizational innovation?" It combines human levels of development (individual, group and organization) and a basic model of human thought. Combining these creates a rich grid of topics for exploration in general, and I will focus it on innovation specifically.

No matter what industry your organization is a part of, sooner or later you will encounter certain challenging personalities in the workplace. As a business owner or manager you must learn how to effectively coach and motivate these individuals. Your career, or even the success of your business, may depend on it.

Chip Bell is one of America's top consultants, trainers and speakers on customer service and leadership. The author or co-author of 20 books, Bell has worked with Ritz-Carlton, GE, Microsoft, State Farm, Harley-Davidson and many other companies. In this interview, I ask Chip to describe how and why leaders should make mentoring a core competency.

Altobello, vice chair of Talent at EY, shared her thoughts on the changing global professional landscape and how companies can attract and nourish top talent-particularly among recent college graduates-at Universum's Employer Branding Conference this morning in New York. ... Below are Altobello's observations about how to recruit and hang onto top-notch millennial employees.

... Last year I offered tips for maximizing new grad energy, but today's employers face a different challenge. Unfortunately, the state of the economy and rising student loan debts will force many of these students to take the first offer with the biggest paycheck. Who could blame them for foregoing an all-to-elusive dream job to address the harsh, post-grad financial realities? However, sustaining a less-than-engaged workforce that is solely motivated by money is becoming an issue for organizations. A recent Gallup poll shows that "active disengagement" costs the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion each year.

Enter the Pay to Quit concept. Mimicking a program created by Zappos, Jeff Bezos announced he will begin offering employees in Amazon fulfillment centers up to $5,000 to quit. Bezos and many of his peers have come to the realization that to not only compete, but more importantly to win, it is essential that their organizations shed employees whose hearts aren't engaged.

Four years ago yesterday, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 men and spilling thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf. This Thursday is the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,100 garment workers.

What has happened in the time since these disasters? BP was barred from drilling in U.S. deepwater-until last month. Western clothing brands are upgrading Bangladeshi factories, but the fundamentals of their business haven't changed: Brands outsource production to factories serving multiple clients in low-wage, low-regulation countries (not just Bangladesh).

The lack of fundamental change in these industries-and others, such as financial services after the 2008 crisis-suggests disasters like these are bound to happen again.

Why, with this global invisible army of people working to prevent them do these disasters still happen? Why do they still happen when there are an unprecedented number of CEOs talking about corporate social responsibility (CSR)? More importantly, what does this "invisible army" need to succeed?

A 2013 Deloitte report, Success or Struggle?, observed that despite high profits and stock valuations, the reality for many companies is far from upbeat. Strong competitors keep appearing from all corners of the world. Advances in technology are eroding the prevailing business models in industry after industry. Companies are under intense pressure as they struggle to defend their vulnerable revenues and market share while pursuing elusive new opportunities and profitable growth.

"Companies are broken and many don't know," reads the provocative opening line of the report. It highlights the paradox that "Many companies are reporting record profits, but longer-term trends suggest they are struggling."

CEOs are often far removed from the thousands of processes carried out every day across the complex organizations they lead, resulting in easy growth opportunities missed. These opportunities can be uncovered using five key capabilities: problem-solving skills, cross-unit collaboration, fast decision making, strong implementation skills and real accountability.

I've seen several dozen business pitches in the last few weeks. That includes pitches for the angel investment group I'm in, plus pitches for two international business plan competitions. I've been doing this since the 1990s. Styles have changed, expectations have changed, but the fundamentals haven't.

Here's a worst-ever moment: The person pitching is pulling in for a close, a financial summary slide goes up and the investors have issues. The sales forecast appears to rise like a hockey stick, but expenses do not. The profits are projected to be as much as 60 percent of all sales. And that's in a hardware business, computer peripherals, in which profitability in the real world is less than 10 percent.

Going to networking events can be valuable for surfacing opportunities if you can manage the art of conversation well.

If you are too scripted, people will avoid you, because they don't want to be sold. If you are too casual, people will avoid you, because you bring little substance or value. And let's face it, no one wants to be stuck talking to a rambler or, worse, a droning slow talker. ... Valuable insights are scarce at most networking events, and I have no desire to contribute to the noise. But observing and listening can surface wonderful opportunities worthy of conversation. You might even learn something valuable.